For Generations To Come

This year, our oldest apple tree is laden with fruit! This blessing has been years in the coming. While old fruit trees are ornamental and producers of food, they are also wonderfully romantic, living things that stand as a testament to the history we’ve shared, the diligent hands that have pruned and cared for them with years of care and good husbandry. When we first planted our orchard here on Providence Prairie, sadly, it wasn’t long before a prairie fire destroyed all our young trees. Alas, we had to start again.

Planting our orchard at Providence Prairie 1999

Years passed and our fruit trees began slowly maturing. Waiting is a big part of developing an orchard. Pruning the wayward growth each late winter in the hope of producing strong branches causes one to reflect on how much we need pruning from our Heavenly Father. The process of braving the cold to snip off nonproductive growth continues each winter until only maintenance pruning is attained. We patiently wait for the spring to bring blossoms, look forward to the summer that would yield fruit, and anticipate the autumn that ushered in the harvest. The cycle would continue year after year and prompt us to remember how fleeting life is.

Alas, while the other less mature trees were setting on one or two fruits, this larger nicely trained tree would blossom each spring and yet have only a handful of fruit. We noticed that its bloom time was significantly earlier than most of our other apple trees. To remedy this situation, this spring we purchased a companion tree that was in full bloom while our mature tree still carried its blossoms. And do you know? This year the older tree was teeming with little fruit!

We have been living here on our farmstead, Providence Prairie, for twenty-six years this summer. When we left our home in Pricetown, Ohio, the orchard that we had planted there was just beginning to produce! 

Our young orchard in Pricetown, Ohio 1992

It is touching to drive past our old place and see the mature-looking trees that are bearing fruit for another generation. We were excited that this year would be the one in which we would finally be able to enjoy a plentiful harvest here as well!

Climbing in the apple tree this summer 2023

Ironically, this week a storm passed through, and blew over our fruit laden tree. We pause to remember that the bad days help us to appreciate the good days even more. So, we remind ourselves to keep moving forward. Despite it all, we had the opportunity to enjoy some of the fruit of this fallen tree. While it is lying horizontal, it is still green and we are hopeful to be able to get a harvest, in spite of the storm.

Looking at the bigger picture, we know that each day brings with it a fresh start. Our thoughts, decisions, and actions towards the situations we meet in life causes us to view life as either good or bad. We can choose to make the best out of a bad situation. Time will tell what we’ll do with this one struggling tree, but in the scope of a lifetime, we know that the fruit of our labor will come. We strive to move forward by remembering that each new day is a promise of a new beginning. Our time is but a splinter of the span of mankind, so we will continue to strive to grow and maintain a good orchard despite whatever trials might take place. One solitary apple tree can produce food for generations to come.

~Rhonda